Cops: Navy sailor charged in Conn. ‘disgruntled’

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A Navy sailor charged with illegally possessing an AK-47 assault rifle was “disgruntled” and authorities were concerned about the potential for violence, police said Tuesday.

Cory Dion Caldwell, 24, kept the rifle under his bed in the barracks at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, according to an arrest warrant. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened an investigation after an informant told them about the weapon and said Caldwell made statements that were anti-government and anti-military.

The informant “provided the information based on a fear for the safety of others,” a police investigator wrote in an affidavit.

At his arraignment Tuesday in New London Superior Court, the sailor from Dalton, Ga. wore shackles around his hands and feet and did not speak. The judge ordered him to remain in custody on $200,000 bail.

Waterford police Sgt. Joseph DePasquale said Caldwell was “very disgruntled and anti-military” and there was concern of potential violence, but there was no evidence Caldwell planned to harm anyone.

DePasquale said authorities who searched Caldwell’s home in Waterford found the assault rifle along with a gas mask, a .50-caliber handgun, two .45-caliber handguns and high-capacity ammunition clips for the AK-47 that could hold up to 50 rounds apiece.